BTS, also known as Bangtan Boys or Beyond the Scene, is a seven-member male idol group formed by Big Hit Entertainment. They debuted on June 12, 2013, with the song "No More Dream" from their first album 2 Cool 4 Skool, for which they won several New Artist of the Year awards, including at the 2013 Melon Music Awards, Golden Disc Awards, and 2014 Seoul Music Awards. The band continued to rise to widespread prominence with their subsequent albums Dark & Wild (2014), The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 2 (2015), and The Most Beautiful Moment In Life: Young Forever (2016), with the latter two entering the Billboard 200. The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever went on to win the Album of the Year award at the 2016 Melon Music Awards.

Their second full album, Wings (2016), became the best-selling album in the Gaon Album Chart history at the time. The album went on to sell more than 1.5 million copies, making it BTS's first "million seller," and the group was subsequently awarded Artist of the Year at the 2016 Mnet Asian Music Awards. The album also peaked at #26 on the Billboard 200. The group continued cementing their rapidly growing international success with their next album release, Love Yourself: Her (2017), which reached #1 on iTunes in over 73 countries and debuted at #7 on the Billboard 200, marking the highest rank on the chart for an Asian artist in history. The group also managed to debut on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time with the album's title track, "DNA." Over their discography, BTS has sold an estimated four million albums worldwide.

Known for their large social media presence, BTS was listed by Forbes as the most retweeted artist on Twitter in March 2016. Following that, Twitter launched its first ever Kpop Twitter emoji, featuring BTS. Since 2016, BTS has consistently ranked #1 on Billboard Social 50 chart for 40 weeks. This charting, and over 300 million fan votes, helped lead BTS to win a Billboard Music Award for Top Social Artist in May 2017. In June 2017, Time magazine named the band one of the 25 most influential people on the internet. BTS's achievements have also led the group to be ranked #5 on Forbes' Korea Power Celebrity list for 2017, a list ranking South Korea's most powerful and influential celebrities.

The group's name, BTS, is an acronym for Bangtan Sonyeondan 방탄소년단, literally meaning "Bulletproof Boy Scouts." On July 2017, BTS announced that they would also be known as "Beyond the Scene."

Pre-debut

The first members of BTS were recruited through Big Hit Entertainment's "Hit it" auditions in 2010 and 2011. The lineup went through several changes before being finalized in 2012. Six months prior to debut, the members began to gain publicity through Twitter, video blogs, fancafe posts, and song covers on YouTube and SoundCloud.

Before debut, Rap Monster performed as an underground rapper and released several tracks informally, including a collaboration with Zico. Jin was a film arts student at Konkuk University before being street cast for auditions, while Suga was an underground rapper in Daegu. J-Hope, who was part of a street dance team named Neuron, was active in the underground dancing scene. Before joining Big Hit, Jimin enrolled in Busan High School of Arts as the top student in modern dance, but later transferred to Korea Arts High School with V, who auditioned in Daegu. Jungkook was cast by seven agencies after auditioning for "Superstar K," but eventually chose Big Hit, reportedly after watching fellow member Rap Monster rap.

2013–2014

The first album of BTS's "school trilogy" series and their debut single album, 2 Cool 4 Skool, was released on June 12, 2013, with the lead single "No More Dream." The album won them several New Artist of the Year awards, including at the 2013 Melon Music Awards, Golden Disc Awards, and 2014 Seoul Music Awards.

On September 11, 2013, BTS released their first extended play, O!RUL8,2?, which consisted of 10 tracks. They also starred in their own variety show, SBS-MTV's "Rookie King Channel Bangtan." The premise of the show was based on a fake broadcast station, "Channel Bangtan," through which the members parodied variety shows such as "VJ Special Forces" and "MasterChef Korea." "Rookie King Channel Bangtan" premiered its eight-episode run on September 3, 2013.

The third part of the "school trilogy," their second EP Skool Luv Affair, was released on February 12, 2014. BTS promoted the album's lead track "Boy in Luv (상남자)," releasing its music video on February 11. The album peaked at #3 on Billboard's World Albums Chart. BTS then came back with "Just One Day (하루만)," with its music video released on April 6.

On March 7, Big Hit Entertainment announced that BTS was to release their Japanese debut single album, consisting of the Japanese language versions of their previous releases. The album, 2 Cool 4 Skool, was released on April 23; their first single was a Japanese version of "No More Dream." On June 14, BTS took part in the Bridge to Korea festival in Russia, an event that aimed to promote tourism between the two countries. There, they became judges of a Kpop cover dance competition and later performed onstage in front of 10,000 spectators. The group also attended KCON in Los Angeles alongside other artists on August 10, 2014.

On August 19, BTS released the music video for their comeback single "Danger" from their first full-length album, Dark & Wild, which sold over 109,098 copies. They made a comeback with "War of Hormone (호르몬 전쟁)," a track from Dark & Wild. Its music video was released on October 21, 2014.

BTS continued to promote in Japan, releasing their first Japanese studio album, Wake Up, on December 24. The album not only included Japanese versions of their songs, but also the original Japanese tracks "Wake Up" and "The Stars." They then held their first concert tour, 2014 BTS Live Trilogy - Episode II: The Red Bullet, throughout October, November, and December. They toured South Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, Japan, Thailand, and Malaysia. During the 2014 Mnet Asian Music Awards, BTS was nominated for the Best Dance Performance and UnionPay Song of the Year awards. In addition to performing "Boy in Luv," they also had a collaboration stage with Block B during the awards show.

2015

From February 10-19, 2015, BTS toured Japan for the first time with the Wake Up: Open Your Eyes tour. They performed to 25,000 fans in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and Fukuoka. On March 28, BTS held their second solo concert in Korea, titled BTS Live Trilogy - Episode 1: BTS Begins.

The group's third EP, The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 1, was released on April 29, 2015. It was listed in June by Fuse as one of the "27 Best Albums of 2015 So Far" and was the only Korean album listed that year. On May 5, 2015, their title track "I Need U" won first place on SBS MTV's "The Show," which marked their first win since their debut. The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 1 sold over 200,000 copies since its release.

On June 4, BTS released their fourth Japanese single, "For You," to celebrate the first anniversary of their Japanese debut, with its music video released on the same day. The single climbed to the top on Oricon's daily chart, selling 42,611 copies within its first day. On June 23, BTS released their music video for their follow up single, "Dope (쩔어)," from The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 1, BTS' first music video to hit over 100 million views. "Dope" rose to its peak at number 3 on Billboard's World Digital Chart despite having been released two months earlier.

The group's world tour, 2015 Live Trilogy Episode: The Red Bullet, continued with stops in Malaysia, Latin America, Australia, and the USA, and ended in Hong Kong on August 29. BTS was a part of the 2015 Summer Sonic Festival tour in Japan, performing on August 15 at Tokyo's QVC Marine Field and on the 16th in Osaka. They returned with the album The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 2 on November 30. They also held a three-day concert tour, The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: On Stage, from November 27-29, where they showcased their lead track "Run." The album charted at number one on the Billboard World Albums and remained atop the chart for multiple weeks, making BTS the first Kpop act to achieve that feat. At the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards, they received the Best World Performer in recognition of their international fan base. During the event, they performed "Run" and had a short collaboration stage with GOT7. The band released the Japanese version of "I Need U" as their fifth Japanese single on December 8.

2016

BTS released their sixth Japanese single, "Run," on March 15. On May 2, they released a special compilation album, The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever; they held two days of concerts at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul from May 7-8 in support of their albums. A total of 24,000 fans attended. After that, the group began their Asia tour, which sold out 144,000 concert tickets. The group also headlined KCON in both Los Angeles and New York in June and July 2016, both to sold out audiences.

On September 7, 2016, they released their second Japanese studio album Youth, selling over 44,000 copies in its first day of release, and shot up to first place on the daily albums chart in Japan. In October 2016, Billboard placed BTS as #1 on their Social 50 chart, making them the first Korean group to top the chart. To date, they have spent 40 weeks as #1 on the Social 50 chart.

On October 10, 2016, BTS released their second full-length studio album, Wings, with the lead track "Blood Sweat & Tears" 피 땀 눈물. Pre-orders for the album reached over 500,000 copies within the first week. BTS made history when their album was the first from a Kpop artist to make it onto the U.K. Official Albums Charts. The album also debuted at #26 on the Billboard 200 chart with 16,000 units earned in the week ending October 13. This made the new U.S. record for "Highest Charting and Best Selling K-pop Album," with 2NE1's Crush previously holding the record at #61 in 2014. It also marked them as the first Kpop act to log three entries on the Billboard 200, and Wings the first album to spend more than one week on the chart. A few days later, it was revealed that BTS had topped the World Albums Chart, World Digital Songs Chart, and Social 50 Chart for week of October 29. They also charted on YouTube Music Global Top 100: 17th on the video chart, 6th on the artist chart, and 14th on the tracks chart. The album's title track, "Blood Sweat & Tears," achieved an all-kill on the South Korean music charts and went on to become the group's first domestic number one hit on the Gaon Digital Chart. Within 24 hours of the music video for "Blood Sweat & Tears" being released, it reached over 6 million views. This broke the previous record on YouTube for the highest number of views on a Kpop group music video within 24 hours.

From November 12-13, BTS held a fan meeting at Gocheok Sky Dome for which all 38,000 tickets sold out. On November 19, 2016, BTS announced the Live Trilogy Episode III: The Wings Tour, set to visit South Korea, Chile, Brazil, the USA, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Australia. On the same day, BTS won Album of the Year for The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever at the Melon Music Awards. This award marked BTS's first daesang, or grand prize, since debut. On December 2, 2016, BTS won their second daesang for Artist of the Year at the 2016 Mnet Asian Music Awards. By doing this, BTS became the first artist not from a "Big 3" entertainment company (S.M., YG, and JYP) to win the award.

2017

In February 2017, BTS ranked fifth in Forbes magazine's Korea Power Celebrity list. On February 13, they re-released their second full-length studio album, Wings, titling it You Never Walk Alone. Pre-orders for the album, which contains 4 new tracks, reached over 700,000 copies. Lead track "Spring Day" 봄날 achieved an all-kill on eight of the major South Korean online music charts, having crashed the Melon digital chart upon its initial release due to traffic overload. "Spring Day" entered the US Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart at #15. A writer from the magazine highlighted the achievement as the single was "almost all in Korean" and had "zero promotions in America." The single also topped the Gaon Digital Chart. Within 24 hours of the music video for "Spring Day" being released, it reached over 9 million views. This broke the previous record on YouTube for the highest number of views on a Kpop group music video within 24 hours, previously held by the music video for their previous single "Blood, Sweat, and Tears." However, the new record was broken a week later after the group released the music video for "Not Today," which accumulated over 10 million views in said time span. Similarly, "Spring Day" became the fastest Kpop group music video to reach 20 million views, achieving the feat in less than 4 days; "Not Today" bested this by reaching said number of views in less than 3 days. The group performed the new tracks from You Never Walk Alone for the first time at the South Korean leg of the 2017 BTS Live Trilogy Episode III: The Wings Tour, a week after its release.

On May 21, BTS won the Top Social Artist Award at the Billboard Music Awards, becoming the first Korean artist to win a BBMA.

The group released a cover of the legendary Seo Taiji and Boys classic "Come Back Home" (originally from Seo Taiji and Boys IV) for Seo Taiji's Time:Traveler project, and were the special guests for Seo Taiji's 25th Anniversary Concert at Jamsil Arena. The two acts performed a total of 8 songs together. During the concert, Seo Taiji declared to the audience, addressing the boys, "This is your era now."

The group released their fifth mini album, Love Yourself 承 Her, on September 18. The album was highly anticipated and sold over 1 million in stock pre-orders alone. The mini-album includes the track "Best of Me," a collaboration with The Chainsmokers's Andrew Taggart. On September 25, 2017, BTS earned their first Billboard Hot 100 entry after debuting with the single "DNA" at number 85. They became the first Kpop boy group to enter the chart and the second Korean act to do so with a song entirely in Korean. The album also reached #7 in the Billboard 200. The music video for "DNA" broke the record for most views in 24 hours for a Kpop group, with 22 million views. The music video made it onto the list of most viewed online videos in the first 24 hours at #11, just below "Despacito."

In September 2017, DJ Steve Aoki confirmed that he will be releasing a collaboration with BTS in the near future.

Artistry

The group's musical style and image is mainly influenced by hip-hop and R&B as well as rock-inspired elements, in singles such as "Danger" and "Boy in Luv (상남자)." BTS has also been noted for lyrics that "speak honestly about topics they deem important, even in a conservative society." Their releases have tackled subject matters such as school bullying and nonconformity to societal ideals, as well as mental health issues, the Kpop idol system, and female empowerment. In 2016, however, the group faced criticisms of misogyny regarding the lyrics of "War of Hormone," "Converse High," and Rap Monster's solo song "Joke," as well as a Twitter comment made by Suga. The group's label later issued an apology. BTS co-writes and produces much of their output, which some media outlets have attributed for their success.

Philanthropy

In 2015, BTS donated 7 tons (7,187 kg) of rice to charity at the K-Star Road opening ceremony held in Apgujeong-dong.

In 2016, they participated in ALLETS’s charity campaign "Let’s Share the Heart."

In January 2017, it was revealed that BTS and Big Hit Entertainment had donated KR₩100,000,000 to the 4/16 Sewol Families for Truth and A Safer Society, an organization that is connected to the families of the 2014 Sewol Ferry Disaster. Each member had donated KR₩10,000,000, and Big Hit Entertainment donated an additional KR₩30,000,000. The donation was intended to have been made in secret.

Endorsements

In 2015, BTS became brand ambassadors for Puma. In 2016, the group endorsed SK Telecom, BBQ, and Smart. Nexon released character avatars based on the members for their RPG game Elsword. That year, they topped the Boy Group Brand Power Ranking published by the Korean Corporate Reputation Research Institute for 9 out of 12 months and were the boy group with the highest brand reputation.

Trivia

The age gap between the oldest member, Jin, and the maknae, Junggook, is 4 years, 5 months, and 28 days.